When Nokia released the Lumia 920, information technology was jammed with some of the topper hardware you could chance in a Windows Call, such American Samoa the fantastic optically-stabilized television camera, PureMotion HD+ display and an OS fresh from Microsoft's update center. But galore reviewers, including myself, base that the thick and heavy design wasn't representative of Nokia's best effort, and didn't give the fantastic ironware the body it deserved.

Nokia Lumia 925 - $590 (unlocked)

  • 4.5-inch, 1280 x 768 AMOLED display (334 ppi)
  • Super sensitive touch, Gorilla gorilla Methamphetamine hydrochloride 2
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 chipset
  • 1.5 Gigacycle per second two-fold-core Mainframe, Adreno 225 GPU, 1 GB RAM
  • 16 GB internal depot
  • 8.7 MP photographic camera, Zeiss f/2.0 lens, dual LED flash, OIS, 1080p video
  • 2,000 mAh, 8.4 Wh internal battery
  • LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC
  • Windows Phone 8
  • 139 grams, 8.5mm thick

Get into the Lumia 925, Nokia's answer to the complaints. It ditches the thick polycarbonate shell, hefty slab of glass and space-consuming Liquid crystal display display for a mostly aluminium consistency with an AMOLED screen. In the process of changing a few components and materials, the Lumia flagship has shed some weight, dropping to 139 grams and 8.5mm midst (from 185g/10.7mm), giving IT an all new breath of life.

Aside from the size, a few other aspects of the phone have been optimized, including a much cool software system tweaks past Nokia, and revamped camera firmware that should assume better advantage of the 8.7-megapixel rear camera. Simply are the changes too late? Is this the Lumia we should have had at the launch of Windows Phone 8?

The Nokia Lumia 925 unit used in this review was benevolent provided by MobiCity. Check them kayoed for the latest smartphones unlocked and off-foreshorten.

Design

When I first pulled the Lumia 925 out of its retail promotional material, I was moderately disappointed in what I was holding, after using the HTC One for the better part of a calendar month. The 'aluminum' design is in some respects other, as the rear panel is a soft touch plastic while the only factual metal is or so the edges of the earpiece. At a first peek information technology looks odd, non as solid as the Lumia 920's contrive or as processed atomic number 3 the even better Lumia 720.

Completely the ports on the phone are crammed into the top incision, which also looks a trifle strange. Right next to a somewhat wanton SIM wag tray (it pushes in like a push) is the microUSB charging port wine and the 3.5mm earpiece jack, departure the bottom panel entirely blank. It's not of swell grandness, but the top plane section of the phone looks crowded for a design that otherwise is well spaced.

The front board is henpecked by a unusually smooth Gorilla Glass 2 panel protective the 4.5-inch display; a panel which besides protects the three soft-buttons, front-facing camera and a few sensors. Compared to different soprano-end phones forthcoming today, the display doesn't use of goods and services as much of the twist's typeface as you might like: IT's just 8mm shorter than a Galaxy S4 and is really a few millimeters wider, but has a presentation half an edge smaller.

The back panel is a piece of plastic that you can't remove, and mainly houses the rear camera situated unusually far cut down from the top. The camera module protrudes from the phone's spinal column away around 1mm, delivering a maximum thickness of 10.2mm. Nokia deceivingly advertises this phone as being 8.5mm thick, but as Army for the Liberation of Rwanda as my measurements go the trunk is actually mostly 9.2mm thick, and the back panel exhibits around 0.5mm flex, thus it's likely the piece of plastic ISN't egg laying flush against the intrinsic components.

On the suitable hand lateral of the phone are the physical buttons: the volume rocker, the mightiness push button and the camera button going top-to-keister. IT's a typical Nokia arrangement that works best on a phone of this size, as the tycoo button is in a very comfortable position. Unfortunately the tv camera button International Relations and Security Network't as solid as I've seen in some of Nokia's onetime designs, making information technology a bit hard to distinguish between the focusing and capturing stages.

I mentioned to begin with that initially the call up disappointed me with its intention as it looks a smaller strange. Merely as I put it through and through its paces As my day by day driver for a workweek surgery so, the design and construction began to grow on me. Information technology's not as nice as the Lumia 720 I've used antecedently, but the Lumia 925 is a significant step-ascending from the Lumia 920; the high spirits and relative thinness is energizing, fashioning it look like a telephone having undergone a rigorous weight-exit routine.

Most significantly, though, is that the design is very homey. The curved edges don't loan themselves well to making the phone look svelte, but they rattling help with qualification the phone engineering. Combine this with materials that feel really nice in the hand and Nokia has drastically improved the usability of their flagship Windows Phone offering with the 925. After a week of use I basically forgot about the design's visual oddities, because it's simply a extraordinary phone to hold.

I tested the black model of the Lumia 925, which uses aluminum that International Relations and Security Network't quite an black, tending towards purple. If I was selecting a color in of 925 to purchase, the others being white and grey, I'd in all likelihood choose white equally IT uses aluminum's natural color for the metallic-looking edges, which looks a bit better. Unfortunately the use of aluminum means Nokia couldn't give rise the phone in their regular range of vibrant colours, though optional wireless charging backs do come in red and yellow.

Compared to the Lumia 920, the Lumia 925 is a huge step to the fore in the pattern department, producing a phone that's engineering and decently attractive. The personnel casualty of weight and heaviness improves how the device feels in your work force and pockets, although I still lean towards the Lumia 720's polycarbonate unibody as having the nicest Lumia body thus cold.